Locations
Bessacarr, Doncaster, DN4
Description
A 51-year-old man has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after being caught sending sexually explicit messages to a teenager.
Paul Singleton was arrested on 25 July this year, after officers working in our specialist Internet Sexual Offences Team (ISOT) received reports that he was sending messages of a sexual nature to a child on social media.
He started to speak to the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, online and quickly, the messages became sexually explicit.
Detective Constable Michelle Jameson, who led the investigation into Singleton, said: “Despite establishing early on in his communication that his victim was 13-years-old, Singleton continued to engage in highly inappropriate and sexualised conversation, including sending explicit images to the victim.”
Singleton, formerly Bessacarr, Doncaster, was charged and pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual communication with a child and one count of attempting to cause/incite a girl to engage in sexual activity. On Thursday 24 August, at Sheffield Crown Court, he was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
He was also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
Detective Inspector Lee Wilson, who leads the ISOT said: “Within a month, this dangerous and predatory offender was identified, arrested, charged and convicted, which I hope demonstrates to the public of South Yorkshire how robust our response to this crime is, and how seriously we take reports of this type of offending.
“We know that there are others out there engaging in similar horrific crimes, targeting vulnerable children and young people, and our work will not stop to identify those individuals and bring them before the courts.”